Help finding work please.

Voyager2002

comics wrote: »

My degree is in Accountancy and Finance, and Masters in Business and IT. I do not have any professional qualifictions. Wonder if that is what I need? Always thought the my employer would sponser me before.

Yeah, my written English is normally like this, any problems with it?

Yes, I do think that your written English could be a problem. It might mean that employers are failing to see the many good things you have to offer because you present yourself poorly on paper. So that is one thing that you might like to address.

I also wonder why you are not claiming JSA. If you are signing on (even just for NI credits) then you have the right to see employment advisers at Job Centres, and may be eligible for other help, including freed AAT training courses. And of course Job Centres act as gateways for courses in the use of English, which might be a weakness that you could easily put right.

heretolearn_2

'My degree is in Accountancy and Finance, and Masters in Business and IT. I do not have any professional qualifictions. Wonder if that is what I need? Always thought the my employer would sponser me before.'

The chances of getting an employer to put you through years of professional training are slim - you are being naive there. Only the very biggest firms ever did that, and as far as I'm aware they have all had a hold on those schemes for the past few years. When you have fully qualified accountants banging on your door desperate for a job, you don't need to go to all that expense and bother. An accounting degree is a bit like a law degree - yours doesn't qualify you to be an accountant any more than a law degree on its own qualifies someone to be a solicitor. I do think that people are misled into doing them. The only thing that really counts in the accounting world is professional qualifications such as ACA, ACCA, AAT. A respectable accounts degree should at least part-qualify you for those - double check if you are entitled to any 'exemptions' on the professional papers due to your degree. That way you are half-way there and there ARE opportunities for part-qualified accountants still to start off in junior roles.

'Yeah, my written English is normally like this, any problems with it?'
Yes, I'm afraid your English as shown here would not get you through the initial sifting for new recruits for us. This could be what is stopping you getting those interviews - I wondered if maybe you were just being 'forum sloppy' (as I often am) but if you really can't see what the problems are, you do need to work on your English. Your spelling and grammar are not correct. Accountants have to write reports, letters, emails, papers and so on.

I suspect that English is not your first language though? In that case, we are a bit more lenient, as we have a few people here who are not exactly perfect, but we do insist that they make full use of spell-check, template letters, and ask for their work to be reviewed before it goes out if they have any doubts. Professional services need to write in a professional way. You'll have to make sure your CV and cover letter/application forms are 100% perfect - even for non-native speakers we expect to see that they realise how important it is and have made the effort.

comics

Haha, unfortunately English is my first language and it probably is a bit poor. I had to resit English in college and passed with a C. I do tend to double check what I write, but mistakes still go through.

I wasn't interested in JSA, but when I went to JCP, to see a job advisor, I was told they I cannot see or book an appointment unless I am on JSA. When I then tried to apply for JSA, the rules on the government site, said I cannot claim because I have savings over the minimum threshold.


With the extra studying I have to do, and with the increased competition already in the accountancy market, maybe this might not be the right career path for me. I wonder what else I can do? I basically like working with numbers in an office, so accountancy was always my goal.

princessdon

Ring your Local Council - They will have an employability team, I can only speak for my LA but someone like you would be snapped us as a volunteer and either placed in the LA or with 1 of their partners.

Also send your CV to "SME's" - tell them you are looking for an internship on travel expenses only - this time of year many are looking for internships in Business/Finance/IT with a few even progressing to their Grad Schemes.

Get a linked in account/ branch out account and network your bottom off, go to EVERY job fair, speak to employers, tell them you are free to get skills.

Good luck

Voyager2002

comics wrote: »

I wasn't interested in JSA, but when I went to JCP, to see a job advisor, I was told they I cannot see or book an appointment unless I am on JSA. When I then tried to apply for JSA, the rules on the government site, said I cannot claim because I have savings over the minimum threshold.

So you have savings of more than 16 thousand pounds? If you have less than that, you should still get some JSA but at a reduced rate.

And even if you were a millionaire, you could still sign on for "credits" (National Insurance contributions) which count towards your pension and also make you eligible for government support in job-seeking.

Kynthia

How comes no-one is mentioning CIMA? There are lots if self-studiers on their forum.

I think finance is a good industry to get into as there's room to progress and it's not too niche, as almost every business needs finance staff.

JAYk_2

comics wrote: »

Haha, unfortunately English is my first language and it probably is a bit poor. I had to resit English in college and passed with a C. I do tend to double check what I write, but mistakes still go through.

I wasn't interested in JSA, but when I went to JCP, to see a job advisor, I was told they I cannot see or book an appointment unless I am on JSA. When I then tried to apply for JSA, the rules on the government site, said I cannot claim because I have savings over the minimum threshold.


With the extra studying I have to do, and with the increased competition already in the accountancy market, maybe this might not be the right career path for me. I wonder what else I can do? I basically like working with numbers in an office, so accountancy was always my goal.

Tutoring.

Whether part-time or full-time. With the qualifications you already have (knowledge or finance, maths, business etc), you can look into teaching basic mathemtics, accounting etc to young adults, mature adults or adults with learning difficulties.

It may not be the same as sitting at a desk doing bookkeeping but its an idea, a start, it would be something current on your CV, and you can work your way upwards. HotCourses UK has a careers info section on their website. Hope all it goes well.

Lizling

There are plenty of jobs outside of the accountancy area that involve working with numbers in an office. Perhaps an analyst of some kind e.g. data analyst or insight analyst? You have a numerate degree, so that's the first hurdle. If you can use SPSS, SAS or teach yourself R (that one’s free), you might well find something. If you can use of bit of SQL too, that might help.

I’ve had much more success going through small, specialist data recruitment agencies than the giants like Reed. There still seem to be jobs going in this area.

Lizling

Also, Business Analyst is a usually little less mathematical, but would fit well with your qualifications.

comics

Thanks for all the suggestions, I have been out today looking for volunteer work at the local church and library. Didn't work. I also decided to redo my CV using the nextstep website. Took me 5 hours to do the CV, but I do think it is better than my old one.

I will see if I can get NI credits, so a job advisor will see me.
Tutoring is not likely, my grades are over 7 years old. I have not been applying the knowledge much. This is what worries me most is that I have no experience with obsolete qualifications, which is why I do prefer to be taken on as an apprentice to relearn stuff.

Using the reed site really got me depressed, see the jobs and the number of people applying to them almost made me cry. This is why I like using JCP than recruitment agencies sites, because I can apply direct to the company.

I will have a look to see if there are any entry level analyst work available.